Need You more than I can take
by Sode no Shirayuki1411
Summary: Akira Hidaka is a semi-ordinary member of Scepter 4. What's less ordinary about her is, despite her feelings for her best friend and co-worker; Ren Goto, she finds herself inexplicably attracted to Rikio Kamamoto, the kindest and most accepting member of HOMRA. This will not end well... Ren Goto x fem!Akira Hidaka x Rikio Kamamoto. Yes, you read that right. Part 7 of Genderbent K.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello everyone, nice to meet you. Here is my new crack pairing(s) story! Enjoy!**

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Chapter 1: Half a rescue

* * *

Akira Hidaka cursed her own stupidity as she set her foot down with a wince, stupid cliché handbag snatcher, she hadn't had to intervene, she was a member of Scepter 4, and, while affiliated with the police force, she was not a policewoman. But what was she supposed to do, let him get away? So she'd arrested the guy but in the ensuring scuffle one of his kicks had made contact with her leg, right in the crease between her foot and her calf, knocking her off balance and when she tumbled to the ground she twisted her ankle painfully.

So afterwards it was with ill humour that Hidaka limped back towards Scepter 4 muttering to herself about no good gutter trash who had to ruin other people's day.

Just as she was grumbling this particular grumble she crossed paths with an overweight young man with short blond hair and a goatee and, to her horror, recognized him.

He was... um... er... _that guy!_ From HOMRA! The one who hung around with that tiny redhead girl.

His chances of not recognizing her were nonexistent considering she was in full uniform. And -oh crap- she didn't even have her sabre with her. The best she could hope for was that the new Red King, the little girl, had talked some sense into her Clansmen, she didn't want a fight. Even if she was fully fit and had her sword with her she wouldn't want to fight. Problem was, not many from HOMRA seemed to share that sentiment.

 _Please just ignore me,_ she begged mentally.

She was almost past him when the guy turned to her, "hey, Scepter 4 lady?"

 _Brilliant,_ she thought sarcastically.

The next words out of his mouth shocked her so badly you could have knocked her down with a feather, "are you alright?"

"What?!" Hidaka blurted, stunned.

"Your leg," he elaborated, "it looks like your injured, did you hurt it somehow?"

 _Yeah, jumping up in surprise upon finding out HOMRA goons actually have souls,_ Hidaka thought.

But that was mean so she didn't say that, "n-no," she stammered instead, "I'm fine, it's just a sprain," she attempted to walk properly to show that she was perfectly okay thank-you-very-much-please-stop-talking-to-me, she probably failed miserably but the attempt was what mattered.

The blond guy did not look remotely convinced, "are you sure? You don't want some help getting back to Scepter 4?"

Ah, so he _was_ aware of what this uniform meant, Hidaka had been worried he'd mistaken her for someone who wasn't a mortal enemy of his Clan.

"N-no, that's okay, my foot's just a little sore, I'll be fine. You can go back to HOMRA," she threw that line in there to make sure he knew she'd recognized him too, "thank you for offering though," she added, remembering her manners, she gave him one of her bright smiles.

He still looked unsure, "well, okay, goodbye then." He nodded respectfully to her and she gave a stupid little wave back before turning around.

Naturally, the second she did she lost her balance and tumbled backwards, strong, yet soft arms caught her before she hit the cold, hard cement that had been the cause of her woes all day.

"Gotcha," it was that HOMRA guy, naturally, just her luck.

"Please, let me help you!" He seemed genuinely concerned.

He put one of her arms around his neck and placed one around her waist, Hidaka tried not to tense up at the contact (nothing to do with the guy, she was just insanely ticklish, everywhere).

The two made good time down the street, "I'm Rikio Kamamoto, by the way," the guy said cheerfully.

"Akira Hidaka," said Hidaka, not quite sure what had become of her life.

"Nice to meet you Hidaka!" Said Kamamoto, somehow managing to sound like he meant it.

No, really Mr. Kamamoto, the pleasure was all hers, really.

They stopped at the big iron (well Hidaka assumed they were iron she actually had no idea) gates out the front of Scepter 4, the ones you couldn't get past without an ID.

"Here ya go!" Kamamoto made sure she had her footing before letting go of her waist, Hidaka awkwardly removed her arm from around his neck, it was aching a little, he was a lot taller than she was.

"Thank you for your help," she said, still feeling like someone had kicked her in the head, not the foot.

He raised a hand in farewell, "hey, maybe we'll run into each other again sometime! See ya"

"Bye!" She called cheerfully, _what is wrong with my life,_ she thought, much less cheerfully.

Hidaka waited until she could no longer see Kamamoto's broad back in the distance and then turned and hobbled into her, at the moment, favourite building in the world.

"I just had the weirdest day," she moaned to Enomoto as she passed her friend's desk.

The four-months-pregnant woman pushed her glasses up her nose and raised an eyebrow as she observed the older woman's obvious limp, "even weirder than the time Domyoji-"

"YES!" Hidaka almost yelled, cutting her off, today might have been weirder but she still wasn't ready to talk about the time Domyoji had done The Thing.

* * *

Contrary to Hidaka's fervent wishes she did see Rikio Kamamoto of HOMRA again, a few weeks later. HOMRA had began to let itself be seen in the world again, after gaining a new Red King the inner circle of the clan had decided to stay together.

Contrary to what they believed Scepter 4 as a whole was actually fairly pleased about this, if HOMRA disappeared the more vicious and ruthless gangs HOMRA had chased out would come back, drug rings and prostitution would come back and no one in Scepter 4 wanted that or wanted to deal with that. And it was better if the inner ring of HOMRA stayed the same too. Scepter 4 was accustomed to them and knew all their faces; they didn't want anyone else taking over. As the old saying went: better the Devil you know than the Devil you don't.

The only person who seemed to be genuinely aggrieved by the remnants of HOMRA staying together was Mr. Fushimi and he always looked annoyed with something so no one really paid him any mind. Hidaka tried inviting him to a couple of Scepter 4 get togethers but, as usual, was more or less told to go shove it.

* * *

However, one day Hidaka was walking down a street, minding her own business. But since this time there were no purse-snatchers or twisted ankles she was in a great mood and humming to herself as she walked.

"Oh, hello Kamamoto," said Hidaka as she spied the man coming out of a bakery, instantly she wished she'd just kept walking. Why couldn't she think first and talk second?!

Oh well, he probably wouldn't remember her anyway.

Kamamoto looked surprised for a second, then his face morphed into a smile, "hey Hidaka! How's your leg? Feeling better?"

Ah, so he did remember her, that cheered Hidaka up. She smiled back, "it's fine now. Thank you so much."

He seemed genuinely pleased to hear it, "well that's good. Nice seeing you again."

"Yeah, you too," said Hidaka and was surprised to find she meant it. As far as Red Clansmen went, Kamamoto wasn't so bad.

The pair said goodbye and made to go their separate ways, but suddenly Kamamoto paused and rummaged in one of the bags he was holding, he pulled out a small white paper bag and thrust it into her hands, "I brought too many so you have this one!" He smiled at her again, "see ya round."

He left before she could return the farewell or thank him for the bag, after he was gone she peeked inside, it was a chocolate donut.

Why not?

* * *

She ended up giving the donut to Domyoji, whom, unlike Hidaka, had been stuck at her desk all day. Domyoji almost cried and said that Hidaka was a Goddess among insects. Hidaka wondered if the redhead would feel the same way if she knew a member of HOMRA had given her that donut in the first place.

But what Domyoji didn't know wouldn't hurt her.

* * *

The third time Akira Hidaka ran into Rikio Kamamoto it was scarcely three days later and she wasn't wandering around, she was enjoying her afternoon off by sitting on the grass (thankfully not covered in frost) under a tree at a park and just enjoying the peace and tranquillity. Domyoji had done The Thing again so she was unlikely to find peace and tranquillity at the office for at least another three hours.

* * *

"Every time I see you you're always out here on your own, why is that?"

Akira, who'd admittedly been dozing off, jerked upright with a gasp and looked up.

Rikio smiled down at her before sitting next to her on the grass, "hey," he greeted her.

"Hey," said Hidaka, blinking owlishly, then she shook herself awake and went back to his question, "well that's normally because I'm out on an errand, I always volunteer for them. I can't stand being cooped up at my desk all day. It drives me crazy."

Kamamoto looked around the park and at the tree they were sitting under, "uh, are you running an errand right now?"

"Obviously," teased Hidaka, "can't you see how seriously I'm taking my job?"

He caught on immediately that she was joking and grinned, "okay, stupid question. I get it."

"So, what are you doing here talking to me?" She asked.

"Does it bother you that I talk to you?" Rikio asked, he hadn't considered that, even when they'd only just met Hidaka had seemed like an okay woman, for a Blue anyway, she hadn't looked down on him and hadn't let their respective Clans get in the way of conversing like two mature (more or less) adults.

Hidaka stretched and leaned back until she was resting against the tree again, "no. It doesn't bother me, I was just surprised, that's all." She said honestly.

"Yeah me too, but you don't seem so bad. For an uptight Blue," he added with a smile.

Hidaka smiled back at him again, she wasn't uptight but she knew the reputation her Clan held, especially in comparison to the Reds.

"Why thank you, you're not so bad yourself. For an uncivilized Red," she teased.

Humour sparkled in Kamamoto's eyes as he leaned back against the tree too. Neither of them felt the need to speak again and slowly, even though they were in the presence of an enemy Clansman, first Hidaka and then Rikio, drifted into a light doze, content in each other's company.

* * *

Ren Goto slung an arm around his best friend's shoulders, "you know, I haven't seen you in a while Hidaka," he told her, warmth in his tone and green eyes.

Hidaka grinned back, "you work at the desk next to mine," she reminded him.

"Yeah but that isn't the same," he said, shaking his head, "where do you go on all your breaks? You're never here!"

Hidaka shrugged, "I like to wander around the city, it's so pretty in winter."

Goto wrinkled his nose, "yeah, when it's snowing, maybe, I hate to burst your bubble but that doesn't look like it's going to be snow," he gestured up at the dark, heavy clouds, "it looks like it's going to rain any minute now."

Hidaka looked too, a single drop of water hit her cheek and there was a crack of thunder, and that was all the warning the pair of them got before the heavens opened and buckets and buckets of water poured down on the pair of them, drenching them instantly.

They both cursed and shook themselves, "you just had to tempt fate, didn't you Goto?" Asked Hidaka, wiping her eyes.

"My bad," he agreed, pushing back his rapidly dampening hair, "sorry."

"Yeah you should be," agreed Hidaka, now what were they gonna do about this?

An idea came to her, she rejected it, this was a workplace where they were supposed to be acting like mature adults, but...

She gave a mental shrug, what the heck? You only live once.

She tapped Goto's arm, "tag. You're it," she ran off, careful not to slip on the wet cement and die.

Goto stared after her for a second wondering what the Hell was going on before it clicked with him and he cursed himself for not being quicker, physically and mentally. He bolted after her yelling "get back here!" And Hidaka's laugher echoed around him, mixing with his own.

Twenty minutes later found them both leaning against the side of a building, panting and dripping wet, their hair and uniform drenched and water beginning to trickle uncomfortably into their boots.

"Okay," gasped Hidaka, "maybe we should, you know, get inside and get changed, before we," another gasp, "die of pneumonia or something."

"Good idea," panted Goto.

They walked down the path towards the dormitories, "so," asked Hidaka, "do you still miss me?"

Goto looked down at his soaked uniform, "I'm beginning to regret ever stopping to talk to you," he said, but she heard the smile in his voice.

They reached the divide where you had to go right to get to the boys dorms and left to get to the girls, "I'll see you tomorrow," Hidaka said.

Goto nodded, "see you then."

She made to turn away but Goto's hand on her arm stopped her, "hey Akira?"

"Hmm?" She turned back to him.

He kissed her softly, "you're it."

He left, leaving Hidaka standing in the rain out front of the dorms, a pleasant warmth in her chest despite her chilled skin and her lips tingling. She smiled and shook her head, Goto was a weirdo.

But he was _her_ weirdo.

* * *

 _What am I doing here? Why did I take Kamamoto up on his offer? I must be insane,_ thought Hidaka, staring up at the bar HOMRA and trying to work up the courage to actually walk in.

She had been on a very important mission for Scepter 4 (picking up the takeout for dinner) when she ran into Kamamoto again.

Hidaka didn't know why she continued to be so amazed when she ran into him, Shizume wasn't exactly a huge city and since they and Scepter 4 shared the same area, she regularly crossed paths with members of the Red Clan. The only thing really noteworthy about bumping into Kamamoto was that she always stopped to talk with him, even if it was only for a few seconds.

Well this time she'd simply exchanged a greeting, barely more than a nod of the head and a hello, he looked busy too, clutching a piece of paper that was probably a shopping list and several bags, and she had food to bring back to several starving members of Scepter 4. Due to a Strain incident involving a buritto, fire, and several flasks of antiseptic, there'd been one Hell of a mess and everyone had ended up working through lunch, so they were all (Hidaka included) tired, slightly grumpy, smelling like chemicals, and hungry.

But out of the blue (no pun intended), Kamamoto had said, "hey, Hidaka, next time you have some time off, if you're not too busy, why don't you visit bar HOMRA?"

She'd frozen, torn between the polite 'I'm not sure that's a good idea,' and the much less polite (but much more heartfelt) 'oh Hell no!'

"I'll always be there," he'd continued, "and I'd love for you to see our headquarters," he'd rubbed the back of his head and laughed slightly, "we're not all the savages you might think we are."

She should have said no, her every ounce of common sense was telling her to say no. But when had Akira Hidaka ever listened to common sense, even if it was her own common sense?

"Sure," she'd said. Like an idiot.

And that was how she'd found herself in her current predicament.

She could just walk away, she could turn around and walk away, she wouldn't be disappointing Kamamoto, he had no idea when her afternoons off were, she could just turn around and walk away and he'd be none the wiser.

But _she'd_ know. And Akira had called herself a lot of bad things in her life, usually when she had gotten herself into a really dumb situation, like right now, but she never called herself a coward.

 _Come on,_ she told herself firmly, _you've tried to make friends with_ Mr. Fushimi! _The whole of HOMRA can't be half as bad as that!  
_

Her heart stuttered, Hidaka had heard through the grapevine that the new Red King, the young Anna Kushina had a rule about 'not burning people who don't need to be burnt.' But was pretty sure that she would be considered one of the few people who did genuinely need to be burnt.

So either her body was going to be burnt to ashes if she went in there, or her pride was going to be burnt to smithereens if she didn't.

"Come on," she said to herself out loud, "you're being stereotypical, Red's aren't crazy fire-happy, bat-happy bastards," she thought about that statement for a bit.

"Most Red's aren't crazy fire-happy, bat-happy bastards," she corrected herself.

Then she stopped, that still didn't sound right, "some Red's aren't crazy fire-happy, bat-happy bastards," she said.

But that still wasn't true and she knew it, "a few Red's aren't crazy fire-happy, bat-happy bastards?" She tried, but that still sounded like a lie.

Hidaka huffed angrily, "well I know Kamamoto isn't a crazy fire-happy, bat-happy bastard," she said firmly.

And, before she could change her mind or come to her senses, walked to the door of HOMRA and pushed it open.

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 **Done! Let me know what you think guys! Until next time! Bye!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello everyone, nice to see you again, many thanks to veixon for favoriting.**

 **That's pretty much all guys. Hope you enjoy. I own nothing.**

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Chapter 2: The Red Clan

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There were about four people in the room but Hidaka felt like an entire crowd of people had suddenly gone quiet and stared the second she had entered the room.

She felt like she was on a huge stage and there was a giant spotlight pointed directly at her face.

"Umm... hi," Akira said nervously before immediately wanting to hit herself in the face for the lameness of that greeting.

 _What are you doing?_ She demanded of herself, _show no fear! Remember? They can smell fear._ Or Scepter 4 was pretty sure they could anyway.

"Um, I'm looking for Rikio Kamamoto; he said I could find him here?" She tried instead, hoping she wasn't going to get bodily thrown out of the bar.

The blond bartender with the sunglasses, HOMRA's strategist, had been talking as she'd walked through the door but trailed off in surprise as he looked at her, he blinked, then was over his shock.

He gave her a polite smile, "just a second," he walked to an open doorway with a set of stairs and called up, "Kamamoto! There's someone hear to see you."

While she waited Hidaka took in of the other people at the bar, one of them was -her heart gave a funny lurch- the new Red King, a tiny, slender young girl of maybe twelve or thirteen who didn't look strong enough to be King of anything, but Hidaka knew looks could be deceiving.

She acknowledged the new Red King with a slight bow, not a formality she would have given the previous Red King but hey, they were all starting over. Hidaka swallowed to ease the dryness in her throat and mouth and firmly reminded herself that she was _probably_ not going to be murdered.

After a few seconds of unabashed staring at the crazy Blue, Anna Kushina's features resumed their normal blank expression and she gave a slight nod of her head in return.

The last two people at the bar were a young woman maybe a few years younger than Hidaka with scruffy blonde hair and a look in her sky blue eyes that was part wary, part hostile, and the tiny, brown-eyed, strawberry-blonde baby she was holding in her arms.

Wait? Who brought a baby into a bar?

HOMRA did obviously but... wait...

Why did HOMRA have a baby?

Well maybe they'd found him or her in a basket on their doorstep, Scepter 4 had run into that problem before, it wasn't fun. Although admittedly the real problems there had been that the baby was a Strain and the Captain had been toying with the idea of adopting him. And the fact that the members of Scepter 4 were good at a lot of things but evidently childcare was not one of them.

The bartender gave Hidaka a bright smile, "he won't be a minute," he promised.

"Th-thank you," said Hidaka, her muscles tensing the second she was addressed. It was funny, had she been ordered to come in here for any reason she wouldn't have hesitated for a second. But because this was a social call of her own choosing she was now terrified.

Just then Kamamoto stumbled down the stairs, looking curious about who was here to see him. When he saw Akira the curiosity morphed into happiness and he smiled hugely, "Hidaka! You came," he tactfully left off the end of that sentence which Hidaka was sure was something like 'I didn't actually think you would,' and moved around the bar and the females sitting there, and, before Hidaka could even register what was happening he had hugged her tightly and let go.

Hidaka's head swam slightly, "come on in," said Kamamoto cheerfully, "let me introduce you to everyone." He turned to gesture at 'everyone.'

"This is Anna, our new King," he beamed with joy and Anna inclined her head to Hidaka again, a gesture the brunette returned.

"This is Mr. Kusanagi, HOMRA's second in command," Kamamoto said.

Izumo Kusanagi lifted a hand in greeting, "hey, nice to meet you member of Scepter 4," he said with a small smile.

This was a much more cavalier reaction to her Clan than Hidaka had been expecting, she wasn't really sure what to do.

She gave a slight bow to him as well, "it's nice to meet you to!" She said semi-sincerely, thankfully not stumbling over her words this time. Dear Gods, what was she doing?

"This is Erica Solt, a member of HOMRA," Kamamoto continued as though he wasn't aware of Hidaka's cheeks getting redder by the second.

The blonde nodded, her expression no longer hostile, though far from being friendly. Hidaka nodded back.

"And Erica's wonderful son Kouki!" Now Kamamoto's grin became blinding, like the sun. "The second child to ever be born into the inner circle of HOMRA and the first boy."

"Two kids in three months, not bad for a group of idiots who don't have the first idea about raising children," Kusanagi sighed, but there was warmth and love in his eyes. It was obvious that to be a child of one member of HOMRA's inner circle was to be a child of all. That touched Hidaka's heart. These children would probably never have conventional lives but they would never want for love or affection.

But they would probably be well and truly worn out by the time they were adults. Akira had only been in the bar ten minutes and she was already exhausted. She'd hate to think about doing this her whole life.

"Wow, congratulations," she said.

The blonde, Erica, smiled and her face softened, "thank you," she rocked her baby gently and the Red King peeked over the red (of course) blanket to look at the baby's now sleeping face.

"Everyone, this is Akira Hidaka, a member of Scepter 4," Kamamoto said. He rubbed his head and laughed embarrassedly, "we're sort of friends," he glanced anxiously at Akira as though worried she would start vehemently denying it.

Instead, she nodded, "I think so."

Kamamoto smiled again and ushered her into the bar properly, "come on in, have a seat!"

She sat, Kamamoto sat with her.

"Can I get you anything?" Izumo asked, setting the glass he had resumed polishing away.

Hidaka shook her head, "no thank you," she said politely.

For the first time she really took in her other surroundings, not just the people, there were several low tables as well as the bar and a long, black leather couch that looked softer than the ones they had in the break room at Scepter 4. The windows had a slight red tint to them, bathing the whole room in an appropriately red glow.

Hidaka lightly touched the exquisitely carved rosewood in front of her, "this is a beautiful bar," she murmured.

Now Kusanagi's smile threatened to outshine even the sunniest of Kamamoto's, "why thank you!"

Erica and Kamamoto both winced, "now you've done it," murmured Kamamoto in his slow voice.

"You fool," muttered Erica.

Hidaka didn't see what the big problem was.

Izumo launched into a tale about how this bar had been imported from England and how it was the masterpiece of the bar HOMRA which made everything else come together. Hidaka nodded along and actually found herself smiling. Who knew the members of HOMARA could be so enthusiastic about benevolent topics?

This whole evening had been a real eye-opener for her!

* * *

It was fully dark out by the time Akira, fully grinning herself now, said goodbye to the members of HOMRA and began the walk back to Scepter 4.

She'd actually had a really nice time; the members of HOMRA weren't the demons Scepter 4 often made them out to be. Actually, once you got to know them, and it helped if you had a man on the inside, they were like a warm extended family. Not a family unit Hidaka thought _she_ would be comfortable being part of but one she envied for its closeness none the less.

And Kamamoto had asked her out to dinner the next time she had an evening off. She had his phone number so she could call or text him when the opportunity arose. The idea filled Hidaka with a pleasant and unexpected warmth.

Part of her hesitated, he was a member of HOMRA, she shouldn't be talking to him, let alone having dinner with him and you could just forget about actually going to the HOMRA bar! That was a big no-no.

But she'd done it anyway and she was still alive, the ceiling hadn't caved in and the world hadn't exploded. So the hesitant part of her was much smaller and easier to ignore than it would have been several weeks, days or even hours ago. She actually found herself fairly eager. Kamamoto was just a pleasant person. It had been way to long since she'd had dinner with someone who was simply nice to be around. Well, except for her co-workers, of course, but they didn't count. Not to Hidaka.

Actually, she didn't think she'd ever just had dinner with a guy. A lot of the other members of Scepter 4 complained that their jobs and their lifestyle really cut into their social and romantic lives. But Hidaka had never had that problem, she didn't date, she just didn't and her social life was fine. Sure it probably wasn't grand and exiting but she had never noticed its absence. She thought about it now though, since the members of HOMRA seemed to have little else but their social life with each other. The two Clans were so very different.

A winter breeze blew through the streets and Hidaka shivered, she was in her Scepter 4 uniform but was not wearing her coat. She had agonized over what to wear to the bar. She had thought of going in casual clothing but then any HOMRA members in the bar, like the King, Kusanagi and Solt would be unable to recognize her and she didn't want to catch them unawares or pretend to be something she was not.

However wearing her full uniform, with or without her sabre, seemed too much like asking for trouble. She could be reckless and unintelligent at times but wasn't actually born without a brain.

So she had ended up wearing her uniform but leaving her coat and sword behind. It hadn't been that cold when she first walked to the bar (it still wasn't actually that cold now) and the coat and the sabre were what really made the outfit a uniform.

It had certainly worked; they'd known where she was from instantly. But they'd been kind to her anyway.

* * *

Hidaka toed off her shoes and flopped down on her bed. Her roommate, Tatsuya Enomoto barely glanced up from the book she was reading, "you were gone a while, how was your afternoon."

Akira stretched out on her bed, "good. I won't as how yours was; I saw the others while I was coming in."

She grimaced in sympathy, both Domyoji and her poor Goto were still stuck doing a report for an incident they'd dealt with earlier that day.

"Their own fault for slacking off," said Enomoto, "what took you so long, I thought you would be back hours ago."

Akira shrugged, though due to the fact that she was lying down with her arms above her head it probably looked more like a weird twitch.

She toyed with the idea of telling Enomoto that she had actually been somewhere this time, instead of wandering around aimlessly like she usually did with her free time. But then Tatsuya would want to know where and it was the idea of telling her that which made Hidaka hesitate.

Enomoto was a very lovely young woman, inside and out, with a very sweet, very calm temperament, but she was a worrier. If Hidaka told her where she'd been (and who she'd been with) she'd worry. If she told her she was planning on continuing to see Kamamoto she would continue to worry.

But she was pretty much the only person Akira could talk to. Benzai would be the best choice, she was calm and level-headed, rational, but, although they got along alright, they weren't altogether that close, so Hidaka didn't consider telling her.

Although Hidaka and Domyoji got along like a house on fire, Akira didn't consider telling her either. If Andy found out she'd made friends with a member of HOMRA she'd probably scream the building down.

Or would she? Andy had sort-of made friends with a member of HORMA too, once, she was at least aware that they were not mindless machines of destruction as Scepter 4 had once believed.

But if Domyoji found out Hidaka had actually been in the bar HOMRA, alone, she would definitely scream. Probably very loudly.

So that pretty much just left Enomoto. Poor Enomoto.

"I made a friend recently," Hidaka said.

Enomoto looked up, "oh really? And when did you have the time to make a friend? Or is it someone from here?"

Hah, if only. "No, he doesn't work here, but I've known him for a while. Recently we've become friends."

"That sounds nice," said Enomoto, but there was a look in her olive eyes that said she was wondering where this story was going.

Which was fine because Hidaka was about to tell her.

"He's from HOMRA," she admitted, and braced herself for the inevitable explosion.

Enomoto dropped her book, hardly the fiery death Hidaka had expected.

"Is that bad?" Akira asked anxiously, and then winced, what sort of question was that? Why couldn't she ever say the right thing when it mattered?

Tatsuya picked her book back up, but closed it and rested it on her bedside table, "in theory; no, we should learn to get along with HOMRA better, and things would go much smoother for both Clans if we could understand each other's wants and only fight when we have opposing missions instead of every time we cross paths. But in practice... then it probably is bad, or at least not good. We don't get along, we can't understand each other's wants and we don't even try and we always have opposing missions and ideals. Plus we fight every time we cross paths. They're Red, we're Blue. That's all there is to it."

A solid argument if Hidaka had ever heard one, her heart sank from her chest to rest somewhere in her stomach. "So you think I should stop hanging out with him?"

"I didn't say that," the bespectacled computer-whiz replied, brushing a lock of her long black hair away from her face, "unless of course you're doing more than just 'hanging out'?"

Now there was an interesting topic, Hidaka resisted the sudden urge to smirk and say 'maybe' in a way that would have her younger friend awake all night telling her the horrors of choosing men who were inappropriate gangsters for anything.

But she didn't. Partly because she adored Enomoto and partly because she wanted to get some sleep tonight.

So instead she told the truth.

"I'm considering the possibility. But I don't even know if he's interested in me that way," she admitted truthfully. "But he's nice, like really nice. And friendly, and genuine and funny. Not such a bad catch. But like I said, I'm not even sure if he's interested. I said he was really friendly and he is, he could just be interested in being my friend. He could already be seeing someone. I dunno."

Unexpectedly Tatsuya smiled and shook her head, "no. If he's straight and he has eyes he's interested in you. Believe me Hidaka. There isn't a man alive who wouldn't be."

Hidaka smiled back and her chest warmed, "thanks Eni. But I dunno," she shrugged, "I have my good qualities," Hidaka wasn't a stunning beauty but she knew that she was, at least, pretty, but her really good qualities lay in her personality, she was a good person and she knew it, "but I'm not..." she searched for a way to explain it, "a Red." She finished, feeling that pretty much summed it up.

Enomoto shook her head again, "if he's straight and has eyes he's be interested in you," she repeated. "Even if he's a Red."

Aww, Tatsuya was so sweet.

"I'm not pulling this idea out of nowhere though," Akira continued, "he's pretty much just been friendly with me up until now but he did just ask me out to dinner. He even gave me his phone number so I could call him and tell him when my next afternoon off was and we could arrange something."

Enomoto just stared, "I agree with you, before it just sounded like you two were friends but I wouldn't give my phone number to someone from HOMRA for the world. That probably means something at least. And he asked you out to dinner? Not coffee or lunch? Dinner?" Even Enomoto and Hidaka were aware of the meanings behind that, coffee was the most casual get together possible, lunch was easy-going and friendly, dinner meant a little bit more.

"It could be nothing," Hidaka said, shrugging, "but let's see where this takes us."

"Good idea," said Enomoto, sounding as though she thought it was the worst idea she had ever heard, she actually looked sad.

"Oh what now? Please tell me that expression isn't just because he's in HOMRA? Eni, it's dinner, we're not getting married." Hidaka said, rolling her eyes, before rolling onto her stomach.

"No, it's not that, it's Goto," Enomoto admitted with a sad sigh.

Goto? Her blue-haired friend had been the furthest thing from her thoughts that night, "what about him?"

Enomoto sighed again, "and they said I had no clue," she muttered, louder she said; "Hidaka, he's in love with you."

* * *

 **Done! Let me know what you think guys. Bye!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello everyone. Here is the newest chapter. Could you guys please read the Author's Note at the end of the chapter? I know it's long but it would mean a lot to me.**

 **I hope enjoy guys. I own nothing.**

* * *

Chapter 3: Days of Blue

* * *

"This is seriously the best movie ever made," said Goto, tucked up on the bed beside him Hidaka hummed in agreement, resting her head on his shoulder.

"I hear the next one is coming out in a couple of years," said Hidaka, conversationally, as the Avengers fought the Loki's invasion on screen.

"Yeah, should be good," Goto agreed, the hand on her hip playing with the tassels on her skirt, Hidaka found the warmth soothing.

"Should be awesome," she corrected.

They were silent for the movie's ending and when it was finished Hidaka sighed and began sweeping up the empty chip packets and empty lolly rappers and drink cans and dumping them into the bin.

"Damn, I really missed our movie nights," Hidaka said. She flopped back down on the bed, "but it's easier to set them up now that Enomoto and Fuse got together, they're less opposed to us kicking one of them out of their rooms," it was either be kicked out of their own rooms or sit there with earphones while Akira and Ren screamed at the screen.

"I really don't want to think too much about why the two of them are less opposed to spending time together than they were before." Goto admitted, Hidaka snickered and waggled her eyebrows suggestively making Goto choke on a laugh.

 _"Really_ don't want to think about it," he corrected himself.

"Oh come on, they're engaged, Akiyama and Domyoji are together, Kamo and Benzai are together, really, we're the only two members of the special squad that aren't. It's not that weird anymore," said Hidaka. At first, when Enomoto and Fuse had gotten together, Hidaka had been worried that they'd get in trouble for their relationship. 'No work place relationships' wasn't an official rule but it had always seemed to be a rule regardless. But, as it turned out, as long as it didn't impact on your work neither the Captain nor the Lieutenant cared what (or, more appropriately, _who)_ you did.

"Yeah but it still feels weird," said Ren, brushing his blue-black hair back.

It kind of still did, he was right about that.

Goto sat up, "I was just thinking, about us being the only pair in the special squad who aren't together."

Akira sat up too, "why? Want to fix that," her voice sounded teasing but she really wasn't. Hidaka was curious, she hadn't forgotten what Enomoto had said a few days ago, that Goto was in love with her. She had denied that, when she really thought about it she wasn't so sure Tatsuya had been wrong, Goto had been leaving a lot of not too subtle clues, especially of late, but there was one, overall, compelling argument against that.

Ren Goto was her best friend. If he was in love with her he would have told her.

Wouldn't he?

"Maybe I do want to fix that," he admitted, "but you probably knew that already," he leaned over and brushed a lock of her short hair away from her face.

"I suspected," she admitted, "you weren't very subtle."

"Is that a problem?" He asked, his voice was light but his green eyes betrayed a hint of nervousness.

Akira leaned forwards and kissed him, "no, Ren, of course it isn't," there was a pleasant warmth in her chest, she wouldn't call it love, but she definitely adored being around Ren, she adored Ren. They could give this a chance and see where it went. No matter what happened, he would always be her best friend.

Goto cupped her cheeks and deepened the kiss, Hidaka inched forwards until she was practically sitting on his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck, her heart beat accelerated.

The door opened, they broke the kiss as they both looked around, "I'm sorry," Enomoto said meekly, "I just thought the movie would be over by now, I'm sorry, I'll come back later, I'm sorry." Her cheeks looked as though they were on fire.

Hidaka couldn't help it, the look on Enomoto's face was too priceless, she started to laugh. She ducked her head into Goto shoulder as her own shoulders shook, by the time the giggles had escaped her throat Goto was laughing with her.

* * *

As her hand slipped into his Akira smiled, one of the things she liked best about Ren was his sense of humour, most members of Scepter 4 were fairly humourless, or if they had a sense of humour, it was dry and hard to detect. She loved Goto's openness; it worked well because Hidaka's very literal mind didn't always catch on to the subtle, snarky humour used by Fuse and Akiyama.

That or she was just stupid, but Hidaka preferred to think of herself as literal minded.

She tugged him to the left, "come on, we can see the fireworks better from here," she dragged him to a small hillock and they sat down on the grass.

Goto sighed contentedly, "after all the craziness we've been through it's nice just to do something fun like go to a festival and watch fireworks."

Akira leaned on his shoulder and snuggled in closer, "yeah, this is nice," she agreed.

There were gasps and cries of awe as the first firework exploded, Hidaka caught her breath.

Goto leaned down and kissed her, Hidaka responded and the two stayed there, lost in each other as the shower of sparks burst and fizzled over their heads.

* * *

"Steady," Hidaka whispered, she was barely breathing her attention was so totally focused on what Goto was doing. "Steady..." she held her breath as Goto dribbled the icing on the cake in the shape of flowers.

Ren glanced over at her with a smile ever so slightly present on his handsome features, "that is incredibly off-putting, do you think you could do something else?" He prompted gently.

Akira, who had been crouched so she was at eye-level with the cake on the bench, straightened up quickly.

"You're right, you're right, I'm sorry," she apologized and quickly backed off, looking for something else to do.

Three seconds later Goto could feel Hidaka's breath on his neck as she leaned up to peer over his shoulder, he shivered ever so slightly, "you're doing it again, distracting me," he said softly.

She didn't move, "sorry."

Goto's hands trembled ever so slightly but he didn't let it mess up his design.

* * *

"There you go, the cake we said we'd bake you," said Hidaka proudly as Goto placed the cake beside Andy's arm as she worked.

Big green eyes looked up and blinked, "oh my God, you actually made me a cake?" A sunny smile lit up her face as she leaped to her feet. She hugged them both, "thank you so much! I thought I'd die if I didn't get something sweet and soon."

She dashed off to get plates, calling out to Akiyama, Benzai, Kamo, Enomoto and Fuse, "we're having cake!"

Benzai glanced up at them from where she had been leaning over Kamo's shoulder, "you two spent eight and a half hours in that kitchen, baking one cake. What on Earth were you doing?"

Hidaka and Goto glanced at each other, "actually there were three cakes," Goto admitted, "we burnt the first two."

Well they'd burnt the first one; the only apt description of what they'd done to the second one was _destroyed._

Benzai lifted an eyebrow, her longish hair brushing her shoulder as she pushed it back, "I reiterate; what were you two doing?" There was a knowing look in her eye.

"Not what I believe you think we were doing," Hidaka laughed, while Goto snickered.

Andy cut the cake gushing about the designs on the icing and served it out to everyone, Scepter 4 sat around laughing and talking, enjoying a brief reprieve and, as Ren put his arm around her shoulders, Akira thought that, just for now, life was pretty perfect.

* * *

"So," said Domyoji, one day, as the two women ended up having lunch together, "what's been going on with you and Goto over the last few weeks?"

"Hmm," said Hidaka thoughtfully, she stirred her drink with her straw idly, "I'm not really sure what to call it," she confessed.

Andy huffed, in her book there were two definitions, you were either together, or you weren't, she didn't over think things, it never worked out for her.

"So are you together, or aren't you?" She asked impatiently.

Hidaka took a sip of her drink, "I'm not really sure. I'd say we are together... but I wouldn't actually call us boyfriend and girlfriend or anything like that. Does that make sense?"

Only kinda, but Domyoji was aware that most relationships only kinda made sense.

"A little, but you like him? Like, romantically?" She added, well aware that Hidaka obviously liked Goto platonically, and, being very literal-minded, she would probably interpret the question that way.

Hidaka nodded.

Andy smiled, "well good for you. Goto's a great guy, though he's not my type, and the two of you deserve each other."

Hidaka smiled, "thank you, I do really like him," she thought about the last month with her and Goto acting like a couple, it had been nice, it had been really nice.

A small smile crept onto Hidaka's lips; Domyoji ducked her head, choking on a laugh.

And what's so funny?" Hidaka demanded, raising her own eyebrows at the other woman.

"You look like you're in love," she teased.

* * *

"Meow," Hidaka looked around for the unfamiliar sound, either Goto had started mewling or there was a cat around here somewhere.

She turned to her blue-haired companion, "did you hear that?"

Goto was looking around too, "yes, I did," he muttered.

"There!" Said Hidaka pointing.

It was a little red and black striped kitten, its fur drenched and sticking out around its face like a tiny lion's mane. To take shelter from the rain it had run under a low windowsill that stuck out from the clothes shop it was part of because the sill was full of flowerpots, there it sat, mewling pitifully, as though it was just waiting for the two members of the Blue Clan to walk by and find him or her.

Hidaka knelt down by the windowsill and held her hand out to the kitten, Goto moved their large umbrella so it still covered her and, after sniffing Hidaka warily for a few seconds, the kitten rubbed up against her hand, purring.

Hidaka picked the tiny thing up, it really was very tiny, it couldn't be very old. Its fur was matted and dirty and it looked skinny and underfed, it probably had worms and fleas and other horrible things but Hidaka knew she would never be able to leave the poor thing, especially not while it was raining like this.

She cradled the kitten against her coat where it snuggled against her, purring. She smiled slightly, "come on, let's get this one back," she said.

Goto nodded and together the three of them went back to Scepter 4.

* * *

While Goto and Hidaka changed into clothes that weren't spotted with ran, Akiyama looked up on the internet what young kittens should be fed while Domyoji ran around to see if they had those things, Enomoto towel dried the creature gently while Fuse walked over to the administration building to ask Goki Zenjo from Internal Affairs for any advice on kittens. The members of Internal Affairs had a cat of their own, named Kuro, which slept in the library or one of the offices, they knew a lot about cats.

"What should we call him?" Benzai wondered.

"Nobody's calling him anything," said Kamo in his best I-am-the-adult-you-will-listen-to-me voice, he was the 'Dad' member of the team. Part of the reason why he and Benzai, the 'Mum' member of the team, made such a good couple. "If you name him, you'll get attached, we cannot get attached. Internal Affairs might be able to keep a cat but we can't."

A melancholic air fell over them all, they'd already gotten attached. They couldn't help it. They were only human, and kittens were adorable. Even the lieutenant could occasionally be seen smiling as she watched them. The only person who didn't seem to share in the happiness was, naturally, Mr. Fushimi the second he heard they had an animal in the building he walked into his spray-painted red office and hadn't come out yet.

"If we can't keep him what are we going to do with him?" Asked Akiyama.

"Is it a him?" Benzai asked logically.

Enomoto lifted the kitten's tail, it gave a small mewl but otherwise made no protest, "it's a her," she confirmed.

"Okay, what are we going to do with her then?" Asked Akiyama.

"Does anyone have a relative who might want a cat?" Asked Enomoto.

Walking back into the room, Goto and Hidaka both shook their heads, Goto's parents were both elderly and couldn't have any pets, Hidaka's parents had her brother, that was more than enough work, neither of them really had any other relatives. Kamo, Benzai and Akiyama all said no, as did Domyoji and Fuse when they came back.

The kitten ate hungrily as they all stared, wondering what to do with it.

"Well there are places you can give kittens so they'll be adopted," said Benzai logically. Akiyama, Kamo and Fuse agreed.

"I'd rather give her to someone I know will take good care of her," said the more emotional Enomoto. Goto, Hidaka and Domyoji all nodded.

The lieutenant walked back into the room, every eye swung to her, "no. I don't want a cat," said Seri, not looking up from her PDA.

Everyone looked back down, disappointed.

"Maybe Internal Affairs would like another cat? A friend for Kuro?" Suggested Hidaka.

"No, Kuro hates other cats, that's why he likes it here so much, there are no other cats in Scepter 4. I already asked Mr. Zenjo," said Fuse immediately.

Everyone sighed, "anybody else?" Hidaka asked gloomily.

Just then the Captain walked into the room, everyone sat up straighter.

The Captain's violet eyes immediately saw the newest member in their midst, "hello. And who's this?" She moved forward and extended an elegant hand to the kitten. Everyone tensed, the Captain was odd around people, they had absolutely no knowledge of how animals would react to her.

To everyone's surprise, no, amazement, the kitten sniffed Munakata's hand for a second and then immediately jumped into her arms and started purring at the top of her tiny lungs.

Everyone else gaped, the kitten was alright with Hidaka and Enomoto but was still wary around all the others, they were shocked to see it take so quickly to the Captain of all people.

Munakata smiled as she scratched the kitten under the chin, "and where did you come from little one?" She asked the kitten, smiling.

"Um, Goto and I found her out on the street, ma'am," said Hidaka, almost nervously, the Captain intimidated her the same way she did everyone else.

"Poor thing," said Munakata, stroking the kitten's fur while the kitten purred so hard she practically vibrated.

"We don't have anywhere for her to go," said Goto.

Munakata's violet eyes looked sad, "poor little thing," she said again, "how terrible, to have no one."

Akira glanced from her fellow Clansmen, who looked as politely bewildered at this last, rather random statement, to her Captain, still cuddling the kitten. Her Captain who had her own house...

"Captain," she began hesitantly, "would... you be interested in taking in a kitten?"

Munakata's violet eyes seemed to light up, "if no one else has any other options for this little one I would be delighted to take her in?" She looked questioningly at her troops, all of whom shook their heads, they had no other ideas for where the cat could live.

This time when she smiled Reisi Munakata seemed to glow so brightly the very air around her sparkled, "very well. I shall take this kitten in. She can live with me. If anyone has any ideas for her name please do let me know."

Since no one would dare tell Munakata what to name her own cat everyone else remained silent, but they all went about their day cheered that their little stray had found itself a home.

* * *

A few weeks later, back at her own home, Reisi Munakata's mouth twitched into a smile as her kitten jumped up onto her lap and began to purr. Her kitten, which she still had not named, was incredibly lazy, only ever lying around in the sun, eating all her food and then going back to sleep. The only break in the kitten's routine was when she jumped up on Munakata's lap and demanded attention from her human.

Munakata rather thought she'd name the kitten Mikoto. A wistful, slightly sad smile touched her lips. It seemed such an appropriate name.

Done! That's all for this chapter. Hope you enjoyed guys!

* * *

 **Okay, I was talking with a friend of mine and we have a couple of questions, firstly; who is the hottest Scepter 4 mook: Himori Akiyama, Yujiro Benzai, Ryuho Kamo, Andy Domyoji, Tatsuya Enomoto, Daiki Fuse, Ren Goto or Akira Hidaka?**

 **And when I say 'hottest' I mean just the most aesthetically pleasing, not talking about personalities, or actions or lines, just shallow physical appearance. Please drop me a review and tell me which one you like most, it would mean a lot to me and totally help us settle this disagreement once and for all!**

 **Also, which of the HOMRA mooks do you find most attractive: Shouhei Akagi, Saburota Bandou, You Chitose, Masaomi Dewa, Eric Solt or Kouske Fujishima? Same as before guys, just talking about their looks and if you could drop me a review or PM me and let me know that would be great. Thanks.**

 **And lastly, who is the most attractive character overall? There's a poll for this on my profile page so if you could vote and/or review and leave me your opinion that would help so much.**  
 **Hope you enjoyed guys, see you next fic hopefully. Bye!**


	4. Chapter 4

p class="MsoNormal"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"Hi guys, sorry I'm so late, I got lost on the road of / Now that my lame excuses are out of the way; many thanks to LucienLachance for following and favoriting this story and yours truly and KanameTwilight for following and favoriting, you guys rock!br / And also a big thanks to Blue for reviewing, um... thank you. I / And also viexon for reviewing, yes, Munakata and kittens; what's not to love?/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="text-decoration: underline;"Chapter 4: Days of Red/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal""Hey stranger, long time no see," said Akira Hidaka cheerfully, she was much more comfortable talking to him now than she had been when they had begun their strange / Rikio Kamamoto smiled at her, "hey Hidaka, happy 2014! How was your new year?" He asked / She sat down, "alright, how was yours?"br / Rikio began to gush about the New Year's party HOMRA had thrown making Hidaka laugh with his stories of drinking, partying and general good-natured / While Hidaka was laughing, ducking her head and covering her mouth with one hand, she thought that this was how it was supposed to be between the two Clansmen, why was it so hard for them all to get along?br / Yes, they had fights, yes, they had big fights; like the Ashinaka High School Incident, but they had a lot in common too, both sides were Clansmen, separate from the rest of the world, but at the end of the day: they were both still human. Did it really matter if one was Red and the other was Blue? Was that really worth all the fighting and the vendettas and the bloodshed? em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Really/em worth it?br / Hidaka didn't think so at all, and she hoped she wasn't the only / She glanced over at a smiling Kamamoto out of the corner of her eye. No, she was sure that she wasn't the only / "Hey, what about that dinner?" Kamamoto asked / Seeing Hidaka's quizzical expression, he elaborated, "we said we should go out to dinner sometime, are you free now? I know this really great Indian place that's really close by." He looked half hesitant, half / Hidaka checked the time on her phone, "sure! I'd love to," she wasn't expected back at Scepter 4 for / Kamamoto's face lit up, "great!"br / They both stood, as they walked an uneasy feeling settled in Hidaka's stomach, she couldn't stop thinking about Goto and how he would feel about / She shook herself, Ren, and her feelings for him, had no place in this matter. There was nothing romantic between herself and Rikio, there might be the potential for something romantic, but that wasn't the same thing. They weren't exclusive because they had nothing to be exclusive for, they had kissed a couple of times, that was it, they weren't even dating, let alone in a / So her having dinner with Rikio was completely fine. Even if it was a potentially romantic dinner. She'd never even had that much with / She knew he liked her, and he enjoyed kissing her and being around her, but that was it. Enomoto was wrong, he didn't love her, he liked her; there was a / Now the unsettled feeling in her stomach had changed to become a sharp pain in her chest for some / Kamamoto noticed the expression on her face, "Are you alright?"br / Akira shook herself again and pasted a not entirely real yet not entirely false smile on her face. "Yeah! I'm fine! Let's get going, I'm starving," they quickened their / They quickly made it to the restaurant which looked small and a little shabby on the outside but the inside was surprisingly comfortable, neat, clean and / Hidaka, having no idea what to order, decided to place her faith in Rikio and allowed him to order for them both. The food was delicious, even if some of the time Hidaka had absolutely no idea what she was eating she was willing to try anything and the two of them thoroughly enjoyed / Afterwards, once they paid and were walking back towards HOMRA and Scepter 4, Hidaka thanked Kamamoto profusely, "I had a really nice time," she confessed, "you really know how to pick good places to eat."br / "It's my one special talent," said Kamamoto with a half proud, half bashful / "Well I'm glad you have it, that was delicious," said / They reached the gates of Scepter 4 and stopped, turning to face one / "Seriously, I mean it, I had a really nice time tonight, not just the food, everything, said Hidaka / Rikio smiled, "I'm glad, me too," he said equally as / Hidaka leaned down slightly and kissed his cheek, "thank you. For everything." He left, she went / "There you are, I was expecting you back hours ago," Enomoto said, looking up from her / "Expect the unexpected with me," said Hidaka wryly, shrugging out of her / "Where were you?" the younger woman asked curiously, turning to face Akira / "Out for dinner with Kamamoto, why?" She asked idly, hanging her coat up and kicking off her / "Kamamoto?" Asked Tatsuya, she seemed really surprised, shocked / "Yeah, we went to this really nice Indian place," Hidaka's stomach felt like it was going to burst again just from thinking about it. "I think I ate too much," she admitted, wrapping her arms around her middle and groaning softly before flopping down on her bed, careful not to jostle her overstuffed stomach any more than she already / "Well it sounds like you had fun," Enomoto / "I did," Akira agreed promptly, glad that her friend's strange expression had / "What about Goto?" Tatsuya / "Huh?" The brunette glanced over, "what about Goto?"br / "I thought you two were, you know, seeing each other," said Enomoto, shifting uncomfortably in her / "We are, kind of, but we're not together, haven't we already have this conversation earlier?" She'd wondered, she'd definitely had it with someone, but it might not have been Enomoto, it could have been someone else, she thought with a shrug, it might have been / "Does Goto know that?" Asked / Hidaka blinked, "of course, well I think he does. I assume he does, I mean; I do." She sounded rough and as though she was stammering, even to / "Well how would you feel if he had dinner with another woman?" Enomoto asked / "Wouldn't care," Hidaka said immediately, "he's allowed to do what he wants."br / Huh, there was food for thought here, the thought of Goto dating someone else, kissing someone else and being around someone else was fine, but the thought of him laughing and smiling at someone else the way she had with Rikio made her mildly / There was definitely something interesting about / Tatsuya smiled ever so slightly, as though she could guess what Akira was thinking, which was ridiculous. Tatsuya Enomoto was a lot of very impressive things. But telepathic, she wasn' / She couldn't understand how Hidaka was feeling because, perhaps, she had felt these emotions or something similar in her life before. No. That was / Because the emotions Hidaka was feeling were ridiculous too, no way Tatsuya could understand how she was feeling!br / And now Hidaka was beginning to confuse herself, moving on...br / "Are you sure you wouldn't care?" Asked Enomoto / "Yes," said Hidaka, sounding much surer than she / "Yeah, Goto and I aren't exclusive," she continued, "we aren't actually boyfriend and girlfriend."br / "If you had to pick, who would your choice be?" Enomoto asked / "Goto," said Hidaka with barely a split second's hesitation. But it was that split second that bothered her./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Thanks so much for coming to see this movie with me Rikio," Hidaka said, her smile making her face glow. "I can't believe Andy ditched me at the last second!"br / Kamamoto laughed good-naturedly, "stop acting like I'm doing you such a big favour by going to see a movie with you. I wanted to see this movie too. And if you hadn't asked me to come see it with you I was gonna ask you this weekend," he confessed, blushing slightly as he often did when talking to / "Really?" Asked Hidaka, her face lighting up, she had just opened her mouth to say something else when an incredibly familiar voice called out to / "Hey! Hidaka!"br / It was Goto. He, Enomoto and Fuse were standing, dressed in casual clothing by the doors of the movie theatre. Enomoto was looking massively uncomfortable, as her green eyes flicked from Kamamoto to Goto and back / Fuse seemed to catch on to his partner's feelings; he glanced at Kamamoto and then raised an eyebrow at Enomoto as if to say 'so this is him?' (Hidaka had no doubts that Tatsuya had told her fiancé about the Red Hidaka herself was occasionally seeing).br / Enomoto nodded, Fuse did not look / Goto, on the other hand, had been told nothing, and he looked from Kamamoto to Hidaka and back again with open confusion written across his handsome / "Hey Hidaka," he nodded a greeting to Kamamoto / "Hey Goto, Fuse, Enomoto. What are you guys doing here, you seeing a movie?" Hidaka asked, considering the fact that they were standing outside a movie theatre, the chances were good that, yes indeed, they were seeing a movie. But Hidaka still thought it a fair question to ask / Enomoto nodded, "yeah, Fuse and I are going to see Space Attack, we invited Goto along when we saw he didn't have anything on today."br / A flicker of suspicion ran through Akira, "Space Attack? The 2:30 viewing?"br / Goto / Hidaka smiled, "cool!" She looked from her current companion to her friends, the 2:30 viewing of Space Attack, the latest Sci-fi, was what they had come here to see too, but, despite Hidaka's suspicions, there was no way Tatsuya and the others could have known that as Hidaka hadn't told any of them her plans for today and she doubted Domyoji had / She wanted to suggest that they all go see it together but she wasn't about to put Kamamoto through / As it turned out, she didn't have to, "um, why don't we all go in together?" Kamamoto offered hesitantly, "if you guys are okay with that, that is?"br / The other members of Scepter 4's expressions ranged from wary (Enomoto), to hostile (Fuse), to downright baffled (Goto), but the first two knew that Kamamoto was alright, thanks to Hidaka telling Enomoto stories, and when Goto raised no objections, they accepted./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Well," said Hidaka cheerfully, "that was awful," despite her honest assessment of the movie she was grinning. Space Attack had been so bad it was almost good and, though almost three hours of her life had most definitely been utterly and thoroughly wasted, the entertaining cheesiness of the story had been enough to make her / Fuse muttered a heartfelt agreement and Goto nodded emphatically, but Enomoto caught Kamamoto's eye and looked away, she bit her lip and he turned his face away from the blue clansmen to hide their smiles. They'd both really liked it, cheese overload and / They hung out for a little longer and then went their separate ways, when they separated Hidaka hugged Kamamoto and Goto felt like a dagger of ice had stabbed him through the / He'd known they were close, but how close was 'close'? He should have seen this coming, he knew how much time Hidaka was spending with the red clansman and he'd never made his real feelings clear. Hidaka didn't have to choose just yet but she would eventually, provided they all didn't screw this up, and if she picked Kamamoto then Goto had no one to blame but / He chewed the inside of his lip thoughtfully, so preoccupied with his attention that he wandered off without saying anything to Fuse, Enomoto or / Fuse bid the two women goodbye, kissing Tatsuya gently and touching Hidaka's shoulder before following his / Tatsuya's spectacled gaze followed Goto's meandering before she gave Akira a look that said quite clearly 'well now you've done it.'br / Hidaka opened her mouth to protest that actually, she hadn't done anything but closed it without saying anything and sighed through her nose. Enomoto wouldn't get it, she and Fuse were so monogamous that the idea of liking anyone else at all, let alone liking someone else at the same time would be completely foreign to the bespectacled black-haired woman and her fiancé. They just wouldn't understand. It was cute and endearing, in a way, but Hidaka wouldn't ever tell either of them / To Enomoto, either Akira liked Ren so much she didn't see anyone else or she didn't like him at all. Hidaka, on the other hand, was aware that it was rarely that / Tatsuya shook her head, her hair, loose for once, swung around her face and shoulders "this is going to keep him up all night and I'm the one who has to work with him tomorrow." She gave Hidaka a flat look, "sort yourselves out," she ordered before turning around and walking back towards their / "Yes ma'am," said Akira meekly, following behind her younger / If only it were that easy./p  
p class="MsoNormal"A week later clamoring woke Hidaka, just as she cracked her eyelids open the door slammed open and Enomoto tumbled through, nearly killing / Hidaka sat upright, concerned, but not overly, Enomoto had a tendency to overreact to things, it probably wasn't that bad. Whatever 'it' / "It's Benzai, she's just been taken into hospital, she was trapped in a burning building, she's unconscious." Enomoto / A chill shot through Hidaka./p  
p class="MsoNormal"They got the whole story from / He and Benzai had been investigating a claim that 'strange people in bright green motorcycle helmets' had been causing trouble by a convenience store at the corner of two nearby / When they got there they found that people in green helmets with metal bats were indeed causing trouble, they hadn't hurt anyone but they were threatening to and destroying property, destroying it with green fire, right in the middle of the day in / When Benzai and Akiyama had shown up the Greens had bolted, the pair had given chase and followed them to an abandoned building by some construction work, the building was actually part of the construction work, or it would be, once they knocked it down. Now that would no longer be a problem, the whole building was / When the Greens had fled inside the building Benzai and Akiyama had needed to speak to each other, they knew what to do, they had been each other's work partner, their backup, the person they trusted to watch their backs in a fight since before they came, together, to work for Scepter 4. They didn't need / Yujiro had run into the building after the Greens while Akiyama had run around, cutting them off from taking the back exit or jumping out one of the back / Then the whole building had gone up in / The fire didn't start small. It was like the whole place had been covered in gasoline or some other flammable (which it genuinely might have been but neither Yujiro nor Himori had noticed or smelled anything) and then someone had struck a match... or used supernatural fire to start off a very unsupernatural, uncontrollable / As a Clansman, Benzai had a naturally high resistance to fire, but that only went so far. And it certainly didn't apply to smoke inhalation. Her lungs were / Looking down at his oldest friend, practically his sister, Himori's expression was devastated, Andy came up behind his chair and wrapped both of her arms around his neck from behind, holding herself close to him, Himori's expression mollified but the broken look in his eyes / Sitting on Benzai's other side, holding her hand in both of his, Ryuho's face, like Himori's, was expressionless, but unlike Himori his grey eyes / "I'm sorry, I'm the one who messed up, I couldn't protect my own partner," Akiyama said so softly Akira and Tatsuya barely heard / "It wasn't your fault," said Kamo, he never took his eyes from Benzai's / "The doctors say she'll be alright. And Benzai is so strong! They have no idea," Domyoji ran her hands through Himori's hair. "She'll be fine," she / Enomoto ducked out into the hall, it was less of a silently sneaking away and more of a hysterical dash to get out of the / Hidaka caught the pregnant woman's arm and gently lowered her before she collapsed into a chair, "what's wrong?" Akira whispered, knowing they had only seconds before Andy came to check on / Enomoto's hands were shaking as well as she tried to hide it, "I'm probably overreacting but another building went up in flames too, right in the middle of the area Goto and Fuse went to scope out. And," the trembling in her hands, "I can't contact either of them."br / Hidaka's heart skipped a beat, she pulled her own phone out and hit Goto's number./p  
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Ren Goto you pick up the phone right now!/em Hidaka yelled mentally but didn't say it out loud; she didn't want to worry Enomoto any more than she already was, she shook her head dismissively, this wasn't going to work, they'd both tried contacting them multiple times and hadn't gotten a / "I'm heading over there," she told Andy and Tatsuya, "stay here," that was mostly directed at the six months pregnant woman who had been opening her mouth to say she was coming along. Hidaka levelled a glare at Domyoji that said they younger woman was to keep Enomoto here no matter what. It was likely Goto and Fuse were both perfectly safe, but if they weren't then Enomoto and her unborn child couldn't be anywhere near / Hidaka turned to leave, she spun around just in time to see Fuse and Goto almost run through the door. Fuse's left arm hung uselessly by his side and a huge bruise obscured the usually flawless skin of Goto's / But they were both conscious and breathing, and that was what / "Daiki!" With surprising agility Enomoto jumped to her feet and ran to Fuse, heedless of his injuries his good arm went around her and he held her close, "sorry," Akira heard him murmur against her / Goto walked up to Andy, "how's Benzai?" He asked, face / Andy's green eyes filled with relief, "unconscious, she passed out from smoke inhalation, but alive. Doing better than those idiot Greens in any case." She stood, "I'll tell the others that you're here," she offered and left, shooting a meaningful look at Hidaka. Andy just got more and more perceptive as she got / Ren and Akira looked at each other, "are you alright?" Hidaka asked, her voice went raspy as relief swamped her. Until she saw him she hadn't fully understood how worried she'd / Goto nodded, "we'll be fine." He looked at her then, really looked at her and a thrill ran through / Ren hugged her tightly for a second before pulling back, he didn't need to say anything, his expression said it all, but he did / "I love you."br / Hidaka just hugged him again, Red Clans, Blue Clans, Green Clans, Silver Clans, romances and friendships, who cared about any of it? Goto was safe. And that was what mattered./p  
p class="MsoNormal"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"Done!br / Well, just thought you guys should know; the poll I mentioned last chapter, Mikoto and Fushimi are tied in the lead but Munakata, Izumo, Hidaka, Neko and Klaudia Weismann all have one vote each. So if you don't think Mikoto and Fushimi are the two best looking characters in K (or even if you do) vote or drop me a review telling me who you think is the most attractive!br / Next chapter is the last chapter guys, hope you / Bye!/strong/p 


	5. Chapter 5

**Hi guys!**

 **Here is the last chapter, hope you enjoy. Many thanks to everyone who followed, faved, reviewed, and just read the fic. You all rock!**

 **I own nothing.**

* * *

Chapter 5: HOMRA and Scepter 4

* * *

"Why does it have to be like this?! Every time I feel like we take a step forward we end up taking two steps back!" Hidaka yelled, raking her hands furiously through her scruffy brown hair.

Kamamoto's face was sad but not apologetic, "because you're Scepter 4 and we're HOMRA," he said quietly.

The irony that he, a member of HOMRA, was sitting calmly and quietly, while she, a member of Scepter 4, ranted and raved, was not lost on Hidaka but right now she was too angry to care.

"Why do we have to fight each other?!" She demanded. She dashed furiously at her eyes as angry tears sprung into them. "We almost won on Christmas Eve! I've said it before and I'll say it again, maybe if we spent less time fighting each other and more time fighting together we wouldn't have to deal with this!" She was grinding her teeth now and Kamamoto's face was stony, emotionless, Hidaka had never seen him look like that before.

She ground her teeth until they squeaked, stupid Reds.

No, it wasn't the Reds' fault. Or rather, it was, but the Blues were equally to blame and the Greens even more so. It wasn't fair to blame just the Reds.

A few of the younger members of Scepter 4 had gotten into a scuffle with a pair from HOMRA, they'd been so busy being antagonistic that none of them had noticed an ambush by jungle. The two Reds were members of HOMRAs inner circle; Erica Solt and her boyfriend Kouske Fujishima, so they'd walked away relatively unscathed and even managed to drive the Greens back, so actually Hidaka knew she should actually be grateful to the Reds. But she wasn't feeling grateful at all.

The youngsters from Scepter 4 hadn't been so lucky. They were being driven to hospital now.

Hidaka blinked back tears as she watched the three of them get loaded into three ambulances. _Idiots! They're just kids!  
_

Gods Hidaka was mad at the Reds and her own Clan right now but she really, really HATED the Greens!

"There's no use denying it, we can make nice and smile pretty but unless something big forces us to work together our Clans will always clash. And even then the animosity doesn't fade. It's just gets covered," said Hidaka bitterly.

"You're right," Rikio agreed.

"I for one don't want a friendship with anyone from HOMRA if it means that anytime our Clans go near each other this happens!" Hidaka gestured at the blood-stained concrete.

"Neither do I," Kamamoto agreed slowly, "you take care of your Clansmen Ak-Hidaka," he amended at the last second.

Tears pricked Hidaka's eyes as she noted the use of her surname again, like they were strangers. "So that's it then?" She asked. "We're just going to admit that we can't settle our differences and walk away? We're not even going to try and fix this?" She swept her arm around to indicate the ruined scenery around them.

"You said it yourself, we have differences we can't fix,' Rikio replied, "and why are you asking me? You're the one who's already made your choice." He glanced over at Goto who was talking to one of the medics.

Akira cringed inwardly, he knew, how did he know?

Feeling their eyes on him, Goto turned to glance at Hidaka. He smiled at her and she smiled back, warmth filled the air between them. That was how Kamamoto knew, he could see it on their faces.

"I'm sorry," said Hidaka quietly, "I never meant to hurt you. I liked you too."

Rikio grimaced, but then he smiled, "that's okay. It's not like I expected anything, we aren't star-crossed lovers like Yata and Fushimi or anything." He chuckled quietly and, despite herself, Hidaka's lips twitched at the idea of Mr. Fushimi and Misaki Yata from HOMRA being star-crossed lovers.

"And this is bigger than just you and me. Our Clans have differences we can't reconcile just because the two of us were, or are, friends," he continued.

"You're right," Akira agreed with a sigh, calming slightly.

"Maybe something will happen, like Christmas Eve, and our Clans will have to put those differences aside.

Maybe... maybe one day we can be friends again," Kamamoto's voice caught slightly.

"Maybe one day," Hidaka agreed.

"But until then, you take care of your Clan and I'll take care of mine," said Kamamoto.

Hidaka straightened, "alright then. Until the day when we can see eye to eye we'll follow the rules." She knew as well as he did that that day might never come but she was an optimist, she just had to believe in them.

"And until that day we'll break those rules, that's what they're for," said Kamamoto with a grin.

"Then we'll stop you," Akira promised. "If any of you are seen on our territory again, even you, we'll have no choice but to respond with force."

"Of course you won't," said Rikio with a smile, "agreed. And if any of you are seen on our territory again we'll use force. Even you. Especially you."

Hidaka smiled back, "agreed."

They bid each other farewell and walked back to their respective Clansmen, "did you straighten everything out with the Red Clan" Benzai asked, "you looked pretty mad there for a second."

"No. Everything's back to normal," Hidaka assured her honestly. Louder she called, "this isn't your territory Red Clan, you'd better clear off."

Solt and Fujishima looked troubled at Hidaka addressing them that way but Kamamoto grinned, "yes my Lady," he said, a teasing note in his voice.

Hidaka rolled her eyes at him and turned back to her own Clansmen, "so we're back to hating HOMRA." Summarized Akiyama.

"Yup, pretty much," Hidaka confirmed happily. Seeing their own askance looks she smiled wider, "c'mon guys! We have nothing to worry about! It's only until our two Clans can work together! We'll be friends again one day! I know it!"

Benzai and Himori glanced at each other, communicating through their eyes, "if you say so," muttered Akiyama doubtfully.

"You're optimistic," said Benzai quietly, sounding equally as doubtful.

The two of them left, "Akira, are you sure about this?" Goto asked, looking worried rather than as though he thought she had taken leave of her senses.

"Do you trust me Ren?" She asked.

"Of course," he said immediately, no hesitation whatsoever.

Hidaka linked her hands behind her back, and kicked one of her legs, "then trust me, it'll be fine! One day."

"Okay," he said, "if you're sure."

They left, Hidaka's chest kind of hurt, but she was smiling, at least things were back to normal, and they'd see each other again, she was certainly sure of that. But it was never easy losing a friend.

* * *

The others went back to the building but Hidaka begged off for a bit, she could use a break, and went to get herself a coffee.

She got herself a drink and sat down on a bench not too far from her work building, breathing the steam in deeply.

She sighed, sometimes it sucked to be her and the second she stepped back into that building was going to be one of those times, she could be forgiven for wanting to put it off for a little bit longer.

"Umm... Miss? Excuse me, are you okay?" An unfamiliar, timid voice asked her.

Hidaka looked up as a teenage girl sat down beside her, she had brown hair with two silver hair ornaments hanging off the ends of two locks on either side of her face and kind eyes. She looked kind of familiar, Hidaka thought she'd seen her before. Couldn't place where though.

She smiled, remembering the girl's question, the expression on her face must've really been something if random strangers were asking if she was alright, "I'm fine, thank you, just...brooding." She sipped her drink.

"Must have been some incredibly intense brooding then, are you sure you're alright?" the girl asked, concern lacing her every word, Hidaka smiled.

"Oh yeah, it was, but I'm okay, or I will be," she said.

"Do you want someone to talk to?" The girl asked sympathetically.

Akira actually considered that, this was a totally random stranger, no connection to Clans, HOMRA or her, if anyone could judge apathetically it would be someone like that.

"Well there was this guy," she began, the girl instantly gave her a sympathetic smile and patted her hand, Hidaka laughed, "no, not like that. Well kind of, but mostly he was my friend. But he was part of a... gang," she said.

"That sounds frightening," the girl gasped, she was listening attentively to Hidaka's every word.

It did to ordinary civilians, didn't it? But Hidaka shook her head, "they weren't bad, just misunderstood, they never frightened me anyway."

"That's good," said the girl, prompting Akira to continue.

"But, well, I'm kind of a police officer," said Hidaka, emphasis on 'kind of.'

"I can tell," the teenager replied, nodding with a smile at her blue uniform.

Oh, of course, that was what normal people assumed, Hidaka wanted to hit herself, _come on brain, work please.  
_

"Yeah..." she continued, squirming uncomfortably at the half-lie, "and long story short I thought when we weren't being cops and gangsters we could still be friends. But I guess I was wrong."

"That's a shame," said her companion sadly, and Hidaka nodded.

"That's the thing, it is a shame," she agreed. "They've given us lots of trouble over the years and we've hassled them too. We've gone out of our way to annoy each other and it's only ever ended with both sides being hurt. If we could just get along it would do everyone a world of good. But we just can't settle our differences."

"And why is that?" The girl asked innocently.

Hidaka thought for a minute, and then shrugged, "we, I, can't put any attempts at friendship over my cl-colleagues," she said, changing her word at the last second.

She had almost said 'clansmen.' Come on Akira! Think first! Then talk. "And he felt the same. His gang always came first. We couldn't see past our prejudices long enough to give the opposite group a chance and we wouldn't ever stop fighting if we couldn't put a possible friendship over automatically siding with our own group and we just ended up going around in circles. As always."

"I see," said the girl, did she? Because Hidaka was pretty sure what she had just said had made absolutely no sense at all.

"Well maybe something will happen that will force you to reconcile your differences~" she suggested happily, a sing-song tone in her voice. "None of you seem like you really want to keep fighting, maybe all you need is a little push!" She swung her legs.

"Maybe," said Hidaka thoughtfully, thinking it was probably going to take more than 'a little push' to get HOMRA and Scepter 4 to reconcile their differences. They'd had a big push to work together on Christmas Eve and then they'd still lost. But who knew? Maybe this girl was right and when jungle decided to launch their final plan or something, the Red and Blue Clans would be forced to work together again. But still, that wouldn't make them like it. Despite her annoyance at both Clans, Hidaka felt a small smile tug at the corner of her lips, HOMRA and Scepter 4 might be annoying but they were damn consistent.

Unexpectedly the girl reached over and tucked a lock of Akira's short, scruffy hair behind her ear, "if the Red and Blue Clans actually manage to work together they might stand a chance," she whispered, "but that doesn't seem likely. I think the Red Clan is awful."

What?!

Hidaka's head whipped around, tons of questions on her lips, the girl jumped up, smiling. "Well, I have to get back to class at Ashinaka so I should probably get going! Good luck! I really hope everything works out for you!"

Only then did Hidaka realize the girl was wearing a Ashinaka High School uniform, she had probably known from the beginning exactly what kind of 'police officer' Hidaka was and after that it wouldn't exactly be rocket science to figure out what this 'gang' was either. Oops. Hidaka laughed and shook her head.

* * *

A flower shop, that was where Akira found herself. It was a quaint little building she often passed on her wandering but had never actually been in before.

There were flowers and greenery all around her and the little old lady behind the counter smiled kindly at Hidaka as she walked in. There were cards by each type of flower telling the reader of that flower's meaning and pretty soon Hidaka had already picked out one that represented herself and was giggling as she picked out a flower for each member of her team.

The camellia meant graciousness; that was her Captain, who was one of the most gracious people Akira had ever met, always polite and charming, even to the Red Clan and the Gold King who treated her as though she was the bratty granddaughter he had never wanted. Hidaka, who had a hard time not saying whatever was on her mind, really admired that about her Captain.

The Lieutenant was Jasmine; the trailing vines and tiny flowers looked delicate and breakable but the old lady who ran the place assured Hidaka that it was actually quite a hardy plant, Jasmine flowers meant grace and elegance and if that didn't describe Seri Awashima then Hidaka didn't know what did.

Mr. Fushimi was a difficult one, partly because Hidaka had a hard time imagining anything about him that would relate to flowers and partly because all the meanings of flowers seemed to be good things and Mr. Fushimi seemed to hate even implying that he might have any good qualities whatsoever. But Hidaka knew they were there, very, very deep down.

His honesty, brutal though it might be Akira couldn't deny that Saruhiko Fushimi was the last person she would ever expect to lie to her. He might be rude but he had always told her the truth and Hidaka really appreciated that. He did care about them too, she knew, though he'd never actually say it out loud. He'd always been there, when Andy had been hurt by a bomb in Enomoto's locker and again when she'd been attacked and left to die by members of a Strain crime ring, when Benzai had gotten hurt in a scrape with jungle and for Hidaka herself on more than one occasion. But there was more to it than that. Though he always looked out for them when they were hurt the way he protected them most was by trying to ensure they never got in situations that could cause them harm in the first place. He always took on the worst missions, alone, he was always the one who drew enemy fire when they were up against a strong opponent and he was constantly working, constantly on the alert for every possibility so the rest of them were in as little danger as possible.

Hidaka walked past a bunch of crocus flowers which meant foresight and smiled, okay, that worked.

Himori got a daffodil for chivalry, and Benzai got a Star of Bethlehem for hope, they were two of the gracious, gallant people Hidaka had ever met and their steadfast optimism and confidence even against overwhelming odds was truly awe-inspiring.

Kamo was a cosmos flower, which meant peaceful, his serenity amongst the crazy was well and truly appreciated, and if it weren't for his constant level-headedness many members of the special squad would be far worse off than they were now. Especially Domyoji.

Likewise, Domyoji herself was a daisy for innocence. There was a reason why, at twenty years old, she was considered the baby of Scepter 4, and that wasn't just because she was the youngest (excluding Mr. Fushimi who was a few months younger). She had a purity and incorruptibility about her that all the others lacked that made them all want to protect her which was awkward to try and do as she was so selfless that she would readily die for every single one of them.

Enomoto and Fuse were easy, Enomoto was a hyacinth for sincerity, a kinder and more genuine person it was impossible to find. Fuse was a gladiolus for strength of character, which was pretty self-explanatory, it suited him.

Goto... Hidaka paced back and forth down the aisles, there were several she thought suited him in one way or the other but they were all generic flowers that could be applied to pretty much anyone. Happiness, peace, etcetera. Nothing that applied to Ren specifically, he wasn't overly sincere like Tatsuya or innocent like Andy.

They just didn't suit him.

She walked up and down again then stopped at a larkspur stem, the blue-purple colour of the many-flowered plant was what had caught her attention. The card said larkspurs represented a 'beautiful soul.' Hidaka smiled, she had found the plant that fit Goto.

* * *

"Huh!" A lot of weird things had happened to Ren Goto over his years of working at Scepter 4 but never before had anyone tipped a bundle of flowers over his head while he was trying to work. They cascaded down around him in a flurry of different colours and smells. He glanced up to see who had dropped them on him, he should have guessed...

"Hey."

"Hey," Hidaka replied, sitting down next to him.

Goto picked one of the flowers off of his head, a pretty white daisy, one of the few flowers which had been dropped on him that he could identify with any certainty.

"Dare I ask?" Asked Goto, holding the daisy up, a daffodil fell from his shoulder to his lap.

"Oh, that one's Andy's," Hidaka replied, "daisies mean innocence."

He held up the daffodil, "Akiyama," Hidaka informed him, "chivalry."

They went through the bunch of flowers Hidaka had bought, with her explaining the meanings of each flower and who she had bought it for.

Goto looked down at the larkspur Hidaka had picked for him with kind eyes, Hidaka was a sweet person, few could do the things she did and do them with a smile after losing a friend.

He noticed another flower on the ground by his foot, "what about this one?" He asked, picking it up.

Hidaka took the proffered flower with a grin and held it under her nose, it was a tulip, a yellow one.

"This one's mine," she said smiling.

"What does it mean?" Goto asked.

Hidaka swallowed and summoned up her courage, "it means 'hopelessly in love'." She told him.

Goto's mouth fell open slightly, he'd admitted he was in love with her before but Hidaka had never said the words back and they both knew it.

"I love you," she whispered.

Goto hugged her tightly, "I love you too."

They stood like that in each other's arms for a second, both unwilling to move.

Hidaka rested her head on Goto's chest, "are you really alright?" He asked her, "with everything that happened with HOMRA? Those kids are going to be fine, you know."

"I know," Hidaka replied. She had already looked in on the members of Scepter 4 who had gotten into the fight with Erica, Kouske and the Greens.

"And I'm fine with it," she continued, letting him go. "We've worked on the same side before, we didn't win, but at least we tried. I'm sure we'll, eventually, be able to co-exist in the future without the threat of imminent death above our heads."

Just then Akiyama ran into the room, Benzai on his heels, "there you are, we've been looking for you, come on, everyone's in the computer room, we need to talk." Just this morning they'd been laughing and joking, now Benzai looked worried and Himori's face was deadly serious.

"What's going on?" Hidaka asked, her heart rate picking up.

"The Captain's been fired."

* * *

 **And BAM! The end, hope you enjoyed guys!**

 **So, speaking of the end, what did you guys think of the end of the show? I'd love to hear your thoughts guys.**

 **Bye!**


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